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GOSH Charity and LifeArc Translational Research Accelerator Grants

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Children’s Charity’s mission is to enhance GOSH’s ability to transform the health and wellbeing of children and young people, giving them the best chance to fulfil their potential. This year we are delighted to announce that we are partnering with LifeArc.

LifeArc is a medical research charity with a 25-year legacy of helping scientists and organisations turn their research into treatments and diagnostics for patients. The charity along with its research scientists brings together a network of partners to tackle specific diseases. So far, LifeArc’s work has helped to develop four marketed drugs (Keytruda®, Actemra®, Tysabri® and Entyvio®) and a test for resistance to carbapenems. Through the income generated from these drugs, LifeArc can directly fund academic and early stage research. LifeArc has a long history of providing translation and technology transfer services and brings exceptional expertise which can support the development of translational research projects.

Together, through this funding scheme we want to support translational research at GOSH focused on addressing medical needs for rare disease patients.

Remit

We are inviting translational, milestone-driven applications which aim to improve the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of rare disease or that focus on developing research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions in rare disease. The scheme is designed to support applications on the translational pathway with the expectation that researchers will continue to develop their therapy/ diagnostic etc after GOSH/ LifeArc funding, either by securing further funding from external translational schemes (from funders such as the Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Innovate UK and others), or partnering with/ licensing to industry. Applications should:

Address a rare disease medical need

Have a strong scientific rationale

Be a target-driven milestoned project with a credible delivery plan

Have a clear route to patient

Make the most of the unique patient populations at GOSH

The following activities are eligible for support:

Developing candidate therapeutic entities (e.g. drug discovery)

Pre-clinical testing of novel therapeutic entities in vitro or in vivo

Clinical trials of existing therapeutics repurposed for a new indication

Developing and testing novel devices

Developing and testing diagnostics (including biomarker validation)

All modalities of intervention are eligible for support from the scheme, including small molecules, peptides, antibodies, vaccines, regenerative medicine, cell and gene therapy, devices, surgical techniques and psychological approaches. An indication of where this scheme fits within the wider translational funding pathway can be seen in the diagram below. If you have any questions, about this please contact grants@gosh.org.

The following activities are not eligible for support:

Fundamental or investigative research that does not link to a development plan

Studies where the primary purpose is to investigate disease mechanism

Late-phase clinical trials

Applicant Eligibility

Projects must be led by research active professionals based at GOSH or the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. Collaborations with industry and other academic partners are encouraged where relevant to the project. Lead applicants may submit one application per round.The direct costs of research are eligible for support through this scheme. If the projects involve partnerships with industry, please note that only the academic costs will be funded and that IP derived with this funding will be owned by UCL/GOSH.

Application Process

Before applying, applicants must register their interest by emailing grants@gosh.org to discuss their project.

This is a two-stage application process

Applicants are required to submit an outline application form which will be reviewed by GOSH Charity’s Research Assessment Panel.

Successful applicants will then be invited to submit a full application which will undergo external peer review and further review by the panel.

Workshops

GOSH Children’s Charity and LifeArc will be running workshops to provide further information about the call and assist applicants with their applications. The workshops will include representation from LifeArc, the Director of R&D at GOSH, the Chair of the GOSH Charity Research Assessment Panel, the UCL TRO and the Joint GOSH and ICH R&D Office.

There will be two workshops:

Workshop 1 – 12 February 2019 12 noon- 2pm. This workshop is aimed at those who are interested in submitting an outline application. The aim of this workshop is to:

Provide information about the scheme and the types of applications we are looking for.

Provide an opportunity for applicants to ask questions about the scheme and the application process.

Provide support to applicants about their proposed applications to the scheme.

For further details about the workshop and to register your interest visit this link.

Workshop 2 – 28 June 2019, 12 noon – 2pm. This workshop is open to those who have been invited to submit a full application. The aim of this workshop is to:

Provide in depth support for applicants who have been invited to submit full applications.

Provide support to applicants about their proposed applications via 1:1 sessions

Deadline

The deadline for submission of outline applications is noon 11 April 2019.

Applicants should expect to hear the outcome of their outline application by the end of May 2019 and the deadline for full applications will be at the end of July 2019. Funding decisions are expected in October 2019.

Dr Simon Newell Early Career Investigator Award

GOSH Charity, Sparks and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) make an annual award for excellence in research to an outstanding young medical research worker in British paediatrics. Nominations are now closed.

About

Since 1999, Sparks has funded an annual award that recognises excellence in the field of paediatric research. In February 2017 Sparks became part of the GOSH Charity family, and this award is now jointly funded by both charities. The award is offered to recognise an outstanding young medically qualified researcher in British paediatrics and the selection process is coordinated by the RCPCH.

The award is named in memory of Dr Simon Newell - a renowned and widely respected neonatologist and paediatrician who had a passion to encourage the next generation of paediatric clinicians and researchers. He made an enormous contribution to neonatal medicine across the UK and was a great advocate for paediatric health.

Simon was connected to Sparks throughout his career, first as a researcher, then a member of the Medical Advisory Committee and later a Trustee. This award has been named in his memory and as recognition of the tremendous work he did

The award comprises:

A trophy

£1000 for the winner

£1000 to the winner's department to buy equipment and cover other expenses such as consumables associated with their work.

The RCPCH will present the winner at the RCPCH Annual Conference in May 2019. The winner will be notified ahead of the conference and the RCPCH will cover the winner's travel and conference costs.

Nomination process

The deadline for nominations is 30 November 2018 and the process is managed by the RCPCH. To apply, please visit the RCPCH website.